I’ve got a pair of spinlock dumbbells with the standard size plates. I haven’t got much weight. 2x25 lb, 8x10 lbs, 4x5 lbs. I’m going to invest in some new weight so I was thinking if I should switch up to olympic dumbbell or stick with standard (small hole). I’m going to primarily use them for curls, bench press and overhead press. If I get olympic dumbbells I can use the plates for a barbell setup in the future.
So I ask:
Any advantage of standard dumbbell over Olympic? Which would you choose in my situation?
Are 25 lb plates on a dumbbell practical for pressing and curls? I think it’d limit ROM on curls but not so much on pressing.
How much weight have you guys fit on your dumbbells? On what type of dumbbell? I can probably figure this one out when I get home, but if you guys know off the top of your head I’d appreciate it.
I’ve found the olympic handles to not be very effective with large plates or olympic spring collars/clips.
The large plates hit your wrists during most movements (db row, db bench, db overhead)
The spring collars slide upside-down during most pressing movements causing them to hit you shoulders/chest.
Unless you have enough small olympic plates (10’s, 5’s, 2.5’s) to load them up without using big plates and you have different collars other than the the spring ones (like clamp collars), I wouldn’t bother.
The clamp collars that came with my bars are shit. No matter how much you tighten them, they would slide off mid-set with weights crashing down onto you.
I’ve hammer curled a db with 10 kg plates on it and done DB floor presses with 45 pound plates on without the plates limiting ROM. So you might not be able to do all the excercises you want with them, but you can still work your muscles.
I put about 190 on my olympic handle for one-handed deadlifts.
[quote]kakno wrote:
2. I’ve hammer curled a db with 10 kg plates on it and done DB floor presses with 45 pound plates on without the plates limiting ROM. So you might not be able to do all the excercises you want with them, but you can still work your muscles.
3. I put about 190 on my olympic handle for one-handed deadlifts. [/quote]
Floor Press is a limited ROM exercise to begin with.
Yes you can curl and do a lot of different movements to compensate for the decreased ROM, but why bother when you already have standard bars with threaded collars?
[quote]kakno wrote:
2. I’ve hammer curled a db with 10 kg plates on it and done DB floor presses with 45 pound plates on without the plates limiting ROM. So you might not be able to do all the excercises you want with them, but you can still work your muscles.
3. I put about 190 on my olympic handle for one-handed deadlifts. [/quote]
Floor Press is a limited ROM exercise to begin with.
Yes you can curl and do a lot of different movements to compensate for the decreased ROM, but why bother when you already have standard bars with threaded collars?
[/quote]
That’s exactly what I meant. You sacrifice a little versatility, but it might be worth it. It’s up to the OP. I didn’t really want to buy enough 10 pound plates to do Kroc rows, for example.
I’m afraid I don’t really understand the second paragraph. To me, it sounds like “why use dumbbells when you have barbells”, which can’t be what you mean.
[quote]kakno wrote:
2. I’ve hammer curled a db with 10 kg plates on it and done DB floor presses with 45 pound plates on without the plates limiting ROM. So you might not be able to do all the excercises you want with them, but you can still work your muscles.
3. I put about 190 on my olympic handle for one-handed deadlifts. [/quote]
Floor Press is a limited ROM exercise to begin with.
Yes you can curl and do a lot of different movements to compensate for the decreased ROM, but why bother when you already have standard bars with threaded collars?
[/quote]
That’s exactly what I meant. You sacrifice a little versatility, but it might be worth it. It’s up to the OP. I didn’t really want to buy enough 10 pound plates to do Kroc rows, for example.
I’m afraid I don’t really understand the second paragraph. To me, it sounds like “why use dumbbells when you have barbells”, which can’t be what you mean.[/quote]
OP mentioned he already had standard “spinlock dumbbells”.
Which are good unless you’re planning on doing heavy one-handed Swedish Deadlifts.
OP mentioned he already had “standard spinlock” dumbbells.
Which are good unless you’re planning on doing heavy one-handed Swedish Deadlifts.
[/quote]
Just to clarify, I’ll probably only need 60-70 lbs for regular curls, but for DB bench I can get as high as 115. I know I can get enough 25 lbs plates on there to get 100 lbs but I’m worried about the ROM where your hand meets the dumbell as you lower the weight to your chest.
Hard to explain, but I picture the inside plate rubbing against your forearm. I can test this once I get home. As far as db curls, I don’t mind switching to hammer curls if I need to.
So from what you say, I gather that I should stick to standard because the locking mechanism on Olympic db’s suck while the spinlock is sufficient. I think that’s a good point. I was just hoping to have one type of plate in future home gym.
Op, i recently found out my gym had a pair of plate loaded dbs. Grip is slightly bigger than a normal db, and so far i’ve done db shrugs, db rows, incline and flat db presses. So far i’ve found it works great for db rows, and so so with shrugs(because the plates roll up and down me as i shrug.)
For the presses, i wasn’t limited in rom much, but it was sure awkward getting them into position because i usually workout alone. But with a spotter handing them to me, it went ok. If i used the 45’s, i can get 280 per db.
So far so good for me, tomorrow i will try them out more on db presses with spotters and see how it goes. They are olympic dbs.
I never had any problems with plates touching my forearms on presses and i had 35’s on there. There shouldn’t be because your forearms should be mostly vertical, unless you have a really wide arc.
OP mentioned he already had “standard spinlock” dumbbells.
Which are good unless you’re planning on doing heavy one-handed Swedish Deadlifts.
[/quote]
Just to clarify, I’ll probably only need 60-70 lbs for regular curls, but for DB bench I can get as high as 115. I know I can get enough 25 lbs plates on there to get 100 lbs but I’m worried about the ROM where your hand meets the dumbell as you lower the weight to your chest.
Hard to explain, but I picture the inside plate rubbing against your forearm. I can test this once I get home. As far as db curls, I don’t mind switching to hammer curls if I need to.
So from what you say, I gather that I should stick to standard because the locking mechanism on Olympic db’s suck while the spinlock is sufficient. I think that’s a good point. I was just hoping to have one type of plate in future home gym.[/quote]
I would stay with the Standard, all you would need to do is get more plates. Yes my spring clips suck, but maybe the jaws of life ones that Thib uses in his IBB videos would work. I dont know I’ve never used them.
You could actually put lighter plates toward the inside to minimize wrist friction (ha).
I have the standard adjustable handles from Wal-Mart, I got 100 lbs. of plates on it. On one side, that’s 1-12.5, 3-10’s, and 1-7.5.
I could replace the 10’s with 12.5, they’re the same width which would get it up to 115 lbs. 119 total including 4 lb. handle weight, I need to order some more 12.5 lb. plates to do that.
I also measured the width of these plates to see which ones were the narrowest so I could cram all of it on the handles, there were variations of .815"-.891", when you’re cramming 5 plates a side on these things those variations add up.
Here are a few videos I have of using Olympic DB handles. I have videos of DB rows up on my hub for those interested. I have found that the range of motion is not really limited with 25LB plates at all. I have never used standard DB handles, so I have no idea how they compare. I will say that you cannot get these things even slightly off center while lifting. I
F this happens, the plates come crashing down in a big noisy heap. My rowing video shows this. I have never tried pressing movements with the 35LB plates. Also, you can only fit 5 10s per side with a collar on. The handles weigh 11.2Lbs.
Hope my last post was helpfull OP. Good luck with finding handles that work, as DB movements are rather limited by the only smallish DBs that comercial gyms seem to provide.
[quote]DoveofWar08 wrote:
Hope my last post was helpfull OP. Good luck with finding handles that work, as DB movements are rather limited by the only smallish DBs that comercial gyms seem to provide.[/quote]
Actually that was very helpful. You’re a strong dude by the way. Impressive lifts. I think I’m going to look for some 25lb plates on craigslist. Thanks. Thanks to everyone else in this thread as well.
I work for one of the biggest strength providers in the country and run across this question often. Sell your current set up on craigslist and buy an olympic 300lb set. $249 plus $70 for shipping. High quality. You can do everything with a 7’ oly bar. Doing the major presses and pulls will add more size than limited handles. You will never go back. berrysbarbell.com
Or buy a pair of powerblocks if you need dumbbells over lack the necessary space.
[quote]ADvanced TS wrote:
I’ve found the olympic handles to not be very effective with large plates or olympic spring collars/clips.
The large plates hit your wrists during most movements (db row, db bench, db overhead)
The spring collars slide upside-down during most pressing movements causing them to hit you shoulders/chest.
Unless you have enough small olympic plates (10’s, 5’s, 2.5’s) to load them up without using big plates and you have different collars other than the the spring ones (like clamp collars), I wouldn’t bother.
The clamp collars that came with my bars are shit. No matter how much you tighten them, they would slide off mid-set with weights crashing down onto you.
[/quote]
This has been my experience.
I’ve done this. It helps a little.
I would try to find quality standard spin-lock handles that are long enough to fit as many 10lb plates+change as you need. You can get an olympic bb and ezbar or the small straight bar and a bunch of olympic plates later. You can make the oly dbs work, but standards are much easier to use.
